Weld thru primer????? Thats only for seams that cant be primed later such as wheel wells and pinch welds at the bottom of rockers you dont want to be using that everywhere you make a weld..THAT might be part of the problem...You need to post pics so we can see what your welds are looking like with the changes your making...show us some pics of your nozzle so we can see the tip and wheres you gas set at ???? lets start at the begining ,not even a pro can weld if the machine aint right

Yes, I put weld through primer on the pieces I was struggling with
I actually put a couple of nice coats on there

I obviously didn't put any primer on the scrap pieces I was playing around with earlier and they were coming out really nice

As mentioned earlier, I did struggle with a few practice pieces, but I think that might have been due to the box section I was using had underseal and paint inside it in some areas

When I was going over these areas the weld would just hiss and not sizzle
It sounded and looked like the video I posted earlier where the guy sets the feed speed too low. I wouldn't get any penetration in these areas it just blew the paint and underseal off of the reverse face

I didn't think to take any pictures of my practice pieces
I'll get some posted when I get back to the garage, probably towards the end of the week

They say that "cleanliness is next to goddlyness". Weld prep is very important. I clean everything I weld with the TIG. The Mig I used to be a bit relaxed with but it does work a lot better if the surface(s) are clean.

Although it is very time consuming, it is a vital part of the welding process.

This is the horizontal weld on the crossmember
I know it's not all that great, but I'm pleased with it

Now THIS on the other hand?!?
I know I should have stopped, but since I didn't know what to correct I decided i should finish the 'bead' so you guys have more to look at and tell me what went so badly wrong

I didn't change any settings on my welder, just went to a vertical face

Why did my weld start to 'hiss'
And why is it such a poor weld compared to my first one?

Thanks guys

Looks to me like you were trying to weld thru garbage and you do not have the skill yet to attempt to weld on a frame.

That whole mess needs to come off, nice shiny bare metal in the weld zone.
Get a puddle started on one side of the gap and let it melt into the base metals, more the puddle across the gap letting it fill and melt into the base metal on the other side.

move slightly uphill with the puddle and work back across to the first side.
Repeat till you are at the top.

IF it goes wrong STOP. It wont get better by splattering more bird turds on it , it will only require you to spend more time grinding.

the only place you should be spraying weld thru primer is where paint cannot be applied after welding, like a lap joint , or the inside of a box.

I think you should consider finding a person that welds that will come over and spend a hour with you and get you headed in the right direction on some scrap pieces.

It is nothing to weld a practice set up for hours on end, take a break, and go right back to practicing the same thing again. Repetition makes perfection.

Make sure your ground connection is clean and even grind a spot if there is doubt. Very important as a poor ground connection will eat up some of the voltage your wire needs to see. Be the same sort of clean with the weld area also. MIG has poor penetration properties anyway, having a CLEAN/SHINEY weld area will allow the metal to puddle with lower voltage and give you a better looking and penetrating weld. I personally can't see your feed speed being too slow if you are on 8 with a power setting of 1 or 2. Seems way too high to me. Is there a chance you are working outside or somewhere there is a draft? The symptom you discribe has happened to me when a draft or wind blows the gas away from the weld or the few times I had brain fade and started the weld before turning on the bottle. Just thinking. Classes are a great idea also. One hands on demo is worth a thousand posts.

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